Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 165 Jia Xu's Ghost Conspiracy
At the end of November in the fifth year of Jian'an, in the early morning, everything in Nanyang was completely silent. Although it hadn't snowed yet, the sky and the earth were already icy cold.

In the wilderness outside Rangcheng, the land is vast, inlaid with yellow and brown, and the distant mountains are looming in the mist. Only the city in the southwest, under the green wheat fields on both sides of the post road, looks dark and solemn.

About four or five miles to the southeast of the city, there are several camps standing up, faintly showing a tendency to encircle, as if to surround half of the city.

A big "Liu" was written on the top of the camp.

Shen Chen was riding on horseback, Gan Ning was not by his side, only Shen Tao and more than a dozen clan generals cavalry, this time when Zhang Xiu was accused, Zhang Xiu's son Zhang Quan was also not by his side, now Zhang Quan is considered a proton, naturally Will not send him back.

Soon more than a dozen knights had arrived in front of the camp, and there were already people waiting at the gate of the camp. Seeing Shen Chen coming down, a 25-year-old general stepped forward and said, "General Shen!"

"Lieutenant Liu!"

Shen Chen got off his horse, cupped his hands in return and said, "Can Zhang Xiu be notified?"

The young general's name is Liu Hu, who is Liu Biao's nephew and Liu Qi and Liu Cong's cousin. In history, he and Liu Biao's general Han Xi were defeated by Sun Ce and died in battle with Sha Xian.

But today's battle of Shaxian was only defeated because Liu Biao's strength soared, but he was not killed, so he is still alive.

At this time Liu Hu was ordered by Liu Biao to lead an army to guard Zhang Xiu.

Although Zhang Xiu wrote a letter to Liu Biao, saying that he would no longer rebel, but now that Cao and Liu are confronting each other, Liu Biao will not trust a capricious person.

At first, Liu Biao took Zhang Xiu in for the sake of his uncle Zhang Ji's death in battle. As a result, Zhang Xiu surrendered without a fight in the battle of Nanyang and went to Cao Cao directly. If Cao Cao couldn't control his lower body, he would not have turned his face.

But originally thought that Zhang Xiu had a blood feud with Cao Cao, so he would not say anything about betrayal, but now he is going to surrender again in the blink of an eye, no matter how stupid Liu Biao is, he can't wait to kill Zhang Xiu who has no faith.

It's just that Cao's army is stationed in Kunyang now, watching covetously, fearing that when Zhang Xiu is destroyed, Cao Cao will respond instead and attack Nanyang, so he has not done anything for the time being. After Cao Cao withdraws his troops, he plans to clean up Zhang Xiu.

Shen Chen also hated Zhang Xiu's capriciousness at critical moments, so he came to question him.

Liu Hu pointed to the pavilion in the distance and said, "Over there."

"Thank you, Captain."

Shen Chen got on his horse again and headed towards the pavilion.

When he came to the pavilion, Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu had already greeted him outside.

"General Ah Shen."

Zhang Xiu's face was quite embarrassed. When he first came to Nanyang four years ago, he was also beholden by Shen Chen and his grandfather Deng Hong. It was only after their persuasion that Liu Biao allowed him to gain a foothold in Nanyang.

As a result, he betrayed his faith and wanted to seek refuge with the strong several times. In the end, even the family of the strong man he identified was burned down by a young man, which was ashamed.

"General Zhang!"

Shen Chen rolled over and didn't salute, but looked at him with a sinking face and said, "I have already told you about the pros and cons of joining Cao Cao, but you have relapsed from your old illness and betrayed your alliance. If you don’t stand up, is this the way to behave?”

He spoke unceremoniously, completely looking like he was provoking a teacher.

But people's respect is mutual. He used to respect Zhang Xiu very much, and patiently explained to him that after taking refuge in Cao Cao, Cao Cao might be able to bear it for the sake of the overall situation, but in the future, the brothers Cao Ang and Cao Cao's heirs may not necessarily tolerate it, so Zhang Xiu still has a lot to say. Great danger.

However, in the face of Cao Cao's bloody use of his sons and daughters to win him over, he still broke the covenant. To a certain extent, Zhang Xiu is a complete villain, so naturally he doesn't need any respect for villains.

Zhang Xiu was unhappy, but he was wronged first, so he had to take a look at Jia Xu, lowered his posture and cupped his hands and said: "General Shen, I am confused about this matter, I would like to make an alliance with the general by blood."

Before he finished speaking, Shen Chen interrupted with a sullen face: "I don't dare to believe the general's oath anymore. In the eyes of the world, the general has no faith."

"Shen Chen, you!"

Zhang Xiu was furious, and the clay figurine was also very angry, not to mention Shen Chen being so run on.

But he forgot that he betrayed Liu Biao and voted for Cao in history, and he first voted for Cao and then defected to Liu Biao, and then defected and voted for Cao. It can be said that he repeatedly jumped between Liu Biao and Cao Cao .

If it wasn't for Mrs. Zou's matter, there is a reason for the incident, and it is estimated that he would have ended up like Lu Bu who was evaluated as "frivolous, cunning, and mercenary".

"General Shen!"

At this time, Jia Xu finally spoke, and said with cupped hands: "The ancients said: "A good bird chooses a tree to live in, and a good minister chooses a master to serve. "You and I know that Liu Biao and Yuan Shao are not the masters of the Ming Dynasty. We surrendered to Cao Cao in order to obey the destiny. Please don't blame the general."

Shen Chen thought for a while, looked at him with a half-smile and said, "Then is Cao Cao still the destiny?"

"Yes and no."

"how do I say this?"

"It's all because of the general and the left general."

Jia Xu said sternly: "Cao Cao holds the righteousness of the Son of Heaven, and he is in accordance with the number of days. However, his murderous nature was too heavy, and he slaughtered too many lives in Xuzhou, so that the heaven sent a general to punish him, destroying his roots. He also has the reputation of General Zuo's benevolence and righteousness. Four seas, with such popularity in the sea, maybe it is destiny."

He took one fate at a time, not just to find a reason for himself to take refuge in Cao Cao.But at that time, people believed in the so-called number of days. Many princes like Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shu believed in this, but they felt that the fate was on them.

Even after Chunyu Qiong was captured by Cao Cao, when Cao Cao asked him why things ended up like this today, Chunyu Qiong replied dejectedly, "The outcome is determined by God".

Therefore, when Zhang Jiao launched the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he had to first deny the fate of the great man, and launch a peasant uprising on the grounds that "the sky is dead, and the yellow sky should stand."

Jia Xu doesn't necessarily believe in the destiny, but Cao Cao's talent is rough, and Liu Xie is in his hands, so he is considered to be the destiny.

Because in a sense, Liu Xie is the concrete embodiment of the current luck of the whole great man.Most of the people and powerful families still recognize Liu Xie as the co-lord of the world.They all think that Cao Cao is Huo Guang, an important minister who saved the Han Dynasty.

So there was the dispute between Shen Chen and those capitulators and the so-called royalists in Jingzhou, and at the same time, Jia Xu believed that Cao Cao could use Liu Xie's "destiny" to unify the world.

What he never expected was that he guessed the beginning right, but not the end.

Jia Xu thought that Cao Cao was like a savior in troubled times. In the name of Liu Xie, he finally defeated Yuan Shao and gained the entire north.

In the end, he won the battle of Guandu, but his hometown was also stolen, and now he and Yuan Shao belonged to each other, and no one took advantage of it.

The future situation is unpredictable, so Jia Xu now understands that the number of days may not necessarily be on Cao Cao.

"Is it Manifest Destiny?"

Shen Chen fell into deep thought.

Historically, Cao Cao was considered five-ninths of destiny.

Originally, if he fought the battle of Chibi well, he might be able to unify the world and unite the nine tripods.

In the future, there will be no need for Cao Pi to usurp the Han, he will do it himself.

But there are still Liu Huangshu and Sun Zhongmou.

Knowing the sky is easy, but going against the sky is difficult.

Idealists like Ji Han are actually against the sky.

With a mortal body, he forcibly violated the destiny and extended the life of the big man for another 42 years.

Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are rewarded with such ambitions, and it may not be the "human strength conquers the sky" as Zhou Yi said.

Such a change of fate against the sky, isn't it moving?
Perhaps it is this kind of spirit that knows that there are tigers in the mountains, but prefers to travel to the mountains, and in the name of benevolence and righteousness, it is admirable to help the great Han Jiangshan.

Thinking of this, Shen Chen showed a ferocious face, and said viciously: "A butcher like Cao Cao is also worthy of the destiny? If he is the destiny, I will tear up the destiny!"

Boom!

In the early morning, the Funiu Mountains in the distance were shrouded in thick fog and cloudy clouds. It seemed that there was thunder and rain. Suddenly, the thunderbolt spread for more than ten miles, which startled Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu.

Both of them looked at Shen Chen in horror, feeling that his words had disturbed the heavens.

However, Shen Chen was unmoved at all, pointing his index finger at the sky, looked at them and said, "Look, even God agrees with what I said, if I disobey the destiny, thunder should kill me, right?"

Zhang Xiu remained silent.

Jia Xu smiled wryly, "The general is so brave."

Shen Chen said: "Now Cao Cao's capital has been burned by me. If you still want to join, I will not stop you, but Hussar General can't bear your repeated defections. If Cao Cao hadn't been in Kunming Yang, he has sent troops to destroy you."

Jia Xu murmured: "We also know this. Last year, Cao Cao and I were on good terms. Duan Yan joined him and sent my family here. I plan to let them go to Xiangyang. How does the general feel?"

"General Zhang, it would be nice to have a home in Xiangyang."

Shen Chen looked at Zhang Xiu, smiled lightly and said, "I also heard that Zhang Quan is very good at riding, but I lack a cavalry general under my command, what do you think?"

Zhang Xiu clenched his fists, the veins on his face throbbed violently, and he felt aggrieved in his heart.

The other party made it clear that they wanted hostages.

But after a while, he relaxed like a deflated ball, and said bitterly, "Do I have any choice?"

"When the general is capricious, he should know what it means to be controlled by others."

Shen Chen shook his head and said, "One must have credibility in this world."

"I see."

Zhang Xiu said softly: "I will send my wife, daughter, and aunt to Xiangyang, and my son will be under your command."

"If I knew this earlier, why bother in the first place?"

Shen Chen turned around and walked to the side of the horse, got on the horse, looked down at them and said, "I advise you to take care of yourself and don't go astray again."

After finishing speaking, he would turn his horse's head and leave.

Jia Xu suddenly said from behind: "General, I don't understand something."

"What's the matter?"

Shen Chen turned to ask.

Jia Xu said with a half-smile, "I want to ask the general, I don't know why the general and the left general are so friendly, would you like to be with the general?"

Shen Chen was startled, and then said without changing his face: "General Zuo was sent by General Yuan Shao to Nanyang to form an alliance with General Hussars. I have written a letter to Generals Hussars about this matter, and with the permission of Generals Hussars, I will fight with General Zuo Together, what's wrong?"

Liu Biao had conspired with Yuan Shao as early as when Liu Xie moved his capital to Xuchang, and Yuan Shao did indeed send Liu Bei to form an alliance with Liu Biao in the Battle of Guandu.

It's just that Liu Biao was too busy to put down Zhang Xian's chaos in history, so he couldn't send troops to help.

Now Shen Chen has been harassing Cao Cao's enemy rear, and has been attacked several times. Although Liu Biao also knows that once Cao Cao is destroyed, Yuan Shao may occupy the north and have a very large influence.

But when the Battle of Guandu started, everyone in the world believed that Yuan Shao would definitely win, so it was unwise to offend Yuan Shaoshu at that time.

It happened that Shen Chen was in Kunyang, so Liu Biao simply agreed to his alliance with Liu Bei.

Shen Chen also said hello to this matter in advance, even if Liu Biao asked about it afterwards, he still had reasons and excuses.

Therefore, as long as he is not too close to Liu Bei in public (intimacy in the Han Dynasty refers to a good relationship), Liu Biao will not suspect that he has a different heart.

Jia Xu nodded slightly and said: "So that's the case, I took the liberty, General, go slowly."

"Farewell!"

Shen Chen slapped his horse's hip and walked away.

This time he came to Xingshi to inquire about the crime, in fact, he was looking for an attitude for Liu Biao.

Now both of them have agreed to send their families to Xiangyang. After they wrote to Liu Biao, Liu Hu should withdraw his troops soon.

But Jia Xu and Zhang Xiu will definitely be marginalized. After all, their behavior is too capricious, and Liu Biao probably won't trust them too much.

As the two people looked at Shen Chen's leaving back, Zhang Xiu complained: "Uncle, I agreed to join Cao Cao when you said that Cao Cao would win, but now it's just God's anger and people's resentment."

Jia Xu shook his head and said, "General, now that it's an afterthought, let me ask you, did Cao Cao beat Yuan Shao?"

Zhang Xiu said, "I won."

"Then why are we in such a field now?"

"Shen Chen burned Xudu."

"Then why did Shen Chen burn Xudu?"

"Cao Cao's rear is empty."

"That's it."

Jia Xu spread his hands together: "What I said is right. Cao Cao will win, so what's wrong with joining the strong? If you had joined Cao Cao last year and helped Cao Cao as a rear barrier, you wouldn't be in the same situation as you are today. "

"This..." Zhang Xiu was suddenly speechless.

Because Jia Xu was right.

From the perspective of hindsight, there is nothing wrong with Jia Xu's analysis.

He believed that Yuan Shao would be defeated and Cao Cao would be victorious, and everything had come true, so he persuaded Zhang Xiu to surrender to Cao Cao, the final victor.

However, in order to defeat Yuan Shao, Cao Cao left the rear empty, and Shen Chen successfully attacked him.

If he had listened to Jia Xu's persuasion last year and turned to Cao Cao, then Cao Cao's rear strength would have been greatly enhanced, and Shen Chen would not have been able to reach Xudu, nor would he be able to threaten Cao Cao's rear.

So in the final analysis, he failed to vote for Cao Chenggong, or he was hesitant at the beginning.

Why did Zhang Xiu hesitate?

It was Shen Chen who warned him.

So in a way, it's a dead end.

If he hadn't listened to Shen Chen's warning and hadn't doubted Jia Xu's ability, he would have been a great hero after winning the battle of Guandu.

Unfortunately, there are no ifs in this world.

Zhang Xiuchang sighed, and said: "Uncle, what will we do in the future? You said that Liu Biao is not the master. Now the family members have become hostages. I'm afraid we won't even be able to go back to Guanzhong."

Jia Xu looked into the distance with deep eyes, and said with a smile: "Although Liu Biao is not the master of the Ming Dynasty, there is not only Cao Cao and Liu Biao in this world?"

"What does Uncle mean?"

Zhang Xiu hurriedly asked.

Jia Xu shook his head: "Don't say it, don't say it. In a few days, I will go to Xiangyang and personally apologize to Liu Biao. If everything goes well in the future, the general and I will end up better than being under Cao Cao's command." many."

Zhang Xiu hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "My uncle is the most intelligent man in the world. From now on, I will always listen to my uncle, and I will never have any disagreements."

At the beginning, Shen Chen tried to alienate Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu, but Zhang Xiu was still persuaded by Jia Xu to vote for Cao. The reason was that Jia Xu's prestige in the Xiliang Army was extremely high, even if he suspected that Jia Xu was betraying him, He didn't dare to attack either.

After all, even Duan Yan was afraid that Jia Xu would seize his military power, and Zhang Xiu himself had great respect for Jia Xu's descendants, so it was impossible to break his face at that time, but he was a little distant.

Later, Cao Cao spent a lot of money to win him over, coupled with Jia Xu's persuasion, and after weighing the pros and cons, he felt that it was more cost-effective to join Cao Cao, so he chose to betray the alliance.

But looking at it today, it was his hesitation at the beginning that made Zhang Xiu feel regretful for not hugging his thigh.

Now that Jia Xu seems to have other thighs to hug besides Cao Cao, Zhang Xiu naturally wants to say that he will definitely obey Jia Xu's arrangements after learning from the previous experience.

When Jia Xu heard Zhang Xiu's loyalty, he just nodded noncommittally and did not speak.

He looked up at the misty morning sky and smiled.

Shen Chen.

Is a good boy.

The baby tiger roars in the mountains and forests, and the young eagle soars into the sky.

I'm afraid the future will be terrible.

But it seems that you have also found the master in your heart.

Unity of knowledge and action, benevolence and righteousness establish the world!
This is the case.

Then let me give you a big gift.

It can be regarded as apologizing to you for what happened before.

　I was supposed to update this chapter yesterday, but because of some things, I met a few people who were against the sky and made some against the sky, and my mentality collapsed. I didn’t write a single word. I will add it today, and there will be more later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)